With its 1,300 hectares spread over the municipalities of Bron, Chassieu and Saint-Priest (Rhône), the Gateway to the Alps is a gray area of the metropolis of Lyon. Although it constitutes an important economic pole, with its 13,000 jobs, the territory evokes more soulless shopping areas, roads and roundabouts than a neighborhood to invest in, even less to live in.
Following its policy of sustainable urban redevelopment, the metropolis of Lyon presented this Wednesday an urban prospective to transform this “strategic territory” into a “Carbon-free, resilient, welcoming gateway to the Alps, both for local residents and for a sustainable economy”. , according to Béatrice Vessiller, urban planning delegate for the metropolis.
Hidden assets to highlight
“This sector has been urbanized for 50 years in logics that are no longer those of today”, she remarks, while noting its assets: “Large natural and agricultural spaces, a drinking water resource , and other characteristics to take into account to make it a resilient territory adapted to current challenges: climate, quality of life, land sobriety, local agriculture. “Gilles Gascon, LR mayor of Saint-Priest, even caresses the ambition “to include this territory permanently in the 21st century, and to make the Porte des Alpes, the territory of the Grande Porte des Alpes”.
A prospective approach has therefore been launched to imagine the Porte des Alpes in 10, 20 and 30 years. The three municipalities mentioned above will take part, and three urban planning agencies, outside the region, chosen for their complementarity. Emeline Baume, delegate for the economy, specifies that their references concern “both French and European territories, confronted with the same challenges as ours. We have one year to propose a variety of work, supervised by a scientific committee,” she says.
Imagination and pragmatism go hand in hand
Chloé Nachtergael, from the Belgian agency 51N4E, does not hide his enthusiasm. “Our team is very young, very committed and very European, and we have just come out of a project to decarbonize Luxembourg until 2050. Is it possible to make a decarbonized Porte des Alpes, which stores more carbon than does it produce any? These are the questions we are already asking ourselves, ”she admits. Olivier Lacombe, of Lafayette Architects, first wants to know “how to embark economic actors in this transition, and concerning the inhabitants, how to bring out the qualities of everyday life”. For Magali Volkwein, from the agency Devillers and Associates“it’s a subject that will force us to activate the imagination, to go beyond technical reasoning at first, to make our ideas accessible”.
“I hear about the imaginary, but don’t forget to be pragmatic and functional,” exclaims Jean-Jacques Sellès, the DVD mayor of Chassieu. Jérémie Bréaud, LR mayor of Bron, also asks them not to forget the mayors in this consultation. “Your scenarios should not go against what we are experiencing,” he reminds the three town planners, “because it is up to the town halls to manage daily life on the ground. »